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Expert declares man incompetent for attempted murder trial

NASHUA — A competency hearing for a city man accused of cutting his wife’s throat after she told him she wanted a divorce has been delayed while prosecutors seek a second evaluation.

Mohammad Salimullah, 37, of 18 E. Pearl St., Apt. 4, has been indicted on a charge of attempted murder in the Aug. 12, 2013, attack on his wife, Shamshidah Sultan, at their Nashua residence.

Since that time, Dr. Dennis Becotte found Salimullah incompetent to stand trial, and also determined that his competency may not be restorable, according to court documents.

However, Michele Battaglia of the Hillsborough County Attorney’s Office requested that a second evaluation be done as Salimullah allegedly made no effort to participate in the initial evaluation.

Judge Kathleen McGuire has granted a continuance, allowing prosecutors to conduct a second evaluation on Salimullah by a different doctor, Albert Drukteinis, according to court documents.

Meanwhile, Salimullah is being detained on $250,000 cash only bail, and the competency hearing has been moved to June 12, say court records.

Using a Hindi language interpreter, Sultan told police that she had approached her husband last summer and asked for a divorce. At the time, Salimullah allegedly told his wife, “We will die together. I will not allow you to get a divorce,” says a police affidavit written by Detective Peter Urban of the Nashua Police Department.

After going to sleep that night, Sultan was woken around 3 a.m. with Salimullah allegedly above her and his hand over her mouth. According to court documents, he allegedly had a 12-inch kitchen knife on her neck, which he was pushing down against her throat, causing a laceration.

Sultan attempted to fight him off, and suffered a cut to her left hand while trying to grab the knife away from her husband of six years, says the affidavit. While running into her sister’s room for help, she observed Salimullah with the knife to his stomach.

Occupants of the home called police, and when officers arrived they found Sultan injured in the neck and hand, and Salimullah lying on the bedroom floor bleeding from a knife wound to his stomach.

The woman’s neck wound required about 20 stitches to close, according to court records.